The Violence Witch’s Chapter 232 – The Rumors were all True

*Thud!*

“Katja!?”

Her body fell to the floor when she ran out of energy. After fighting so wildly with a hole through her stomach, it was only a matter of ti.

Hecate, Ririna, and Sarasa ran over as soon as they processed what happened. Katja cornered Daisuke during her rampage, but now that she was down, he quickly hopped over her and ran away in the opposite direction of the girls. They ignored him and crouched to aid her instead.

“Katja! What did you do? Can you hear ? Say sothing!” Hecate knelt next to her head. The blood pooling on the floor stained her dress.

“This is serious… We need to treat her right away.” Ririna said.

“Can you do it?” Hecate asked.

“Yeah… But I’ll need a hand.”

Ririna couldn’t get started with Katja on her belly. Sarasa and Hecate gently flipped her over, with Hecate using her lap as a pillow. It’s gonna be alright… Hecate caressed Katja’s head while Ririna fished through her pockets for potions and ointnts. Other than the occasional groan, Katja wasn’t responding at all. But she was still alive.

“We’re back! What happened here?” Carol and Narumi finally arrived from their detour. They heard what happened through the radio, but the situation was much bloodier in person. “What happened? Why is Katja hurt?” Carol asked.

“I don’t know…” Hecate said. “We got ambushed by Daisuke and a group of soldiers, then… she stabbed herself…”

“She did it to herself?!”

“I think she got stronger after doing it… I’ve never seen her fight so well… She was even able to cut down bullets. But now she’s like this…”

“Katja was cutting down bullets?” Carol asked. “She always said that was her limit as a tool… She actually broke past it…” Hecate’s theory about her getting stronger was right. It’s only that killing herself to gain strength is really not worth it… Not that Carol’s Crown worked much differently.

“Alright… She’s not healed yet, but this should buy us so ti.” Ririna said. She and Sarasa finished bandaging Katja’s belly, then Ririna packed up. “If we can take her sowhere safe, I should be able to stabilize her.”

With the siren blaring and every soldier on high alert, it was only a matter of ti before they had to fight again.

“I see… So if we want to save Katja, we have to get out of here first.” Hecate gave Katja a piggyback ride.

“Wait… But if we leave now, we’re leaving Iroha behind! What’s the point of coming here if we can’t even save her?” Carol asked.

“We have no other choice! We can’t wander around aimlessly while Katja’s bleeding out! Our information was wrong! Miyuki was wrong! We should have never trusted her!”

Hecate raised her voice. Carol was about to snap back but turned her rage sowhere else. “Yeah… What the hell, Miyuki?! You lied to us! Where’s Iroha?!” She yelled at her earpiece.

“Wait wait wait! I didn’t lie, okay?” Miyuki defended herself with a panicked voice. “I didn’t predict things would go like this. She was supposed to be in her room. I swear!”

“You swearing ans nothing to us!” Carol said. “How are you going to take responsibility, huh? How are we going to save Iroha now? What’s going to happen to Katja? This is all your fault! You’re the one who put ideas in her head too!”

“Hmm… If it’s like this, the only way to solve this is if we split up.” Sarasa crossed her arms. “Hecate and Ririna carry Katja to safety so they can tend to her, while we look for Iroha.”

Narumi shook her head. “That won’t work. Ririna can’t handle a fight, and Hecate won’t be able to protect them while carrying Katja. Splitting up won’t work…” Soone had to make the call. Narumi looked over to Carol.

“Dammit… You’re right… We have to choose, but how can we choose between the two of them?”

“It’s better if you leave.” With a ek voice, Miyuki suggested. “Iroha’s not supposed to die… The PSF won’t hurt her too much, so we can try again later… I’ll find her location again… If you’re still willing to trust …”

“Tch… Like we have any other choice… Let’s get out of here!” Carol clenched her fist. “I still don’t trust you, though! You have a lot to answer for when we get back, Miyuki!”

Very reluctantly, everyone ran for the stairs heading to the underground. Their escape plan had them escape through the building’s parking lot. Only a long corridor now and they’ll be at the door leading out. With the ss upstairs, not a single soul had bothered them until they got all the way down.

“Eeeek?! Wh- what are you doing here?!” The man that scurried off earlier now stood between them and the parking lot’s door. Daisuke stopped running when the footsteps caught up to him and turned around while trembling.

The hallway underground was far larger than the ones above, and he was completely alone. Ignoring him and just getting through the door would be a breeze.

“Hehehehe hahahahaha! This is not bad… Not bad at all… You shouldn’t co here… Your luck has definitely run out now!” He pulled out a remote control in self-defense and pressed the bright red button in the middle. The ceiling opened and a big lump of tal dropped from above.

“No way…” Carol said. They’re real? Miyuki wasn’t making up stuff?!

A giant robot hit the floor and blocked their path. The robot was shaped like a large cylinder with two arms and moving on two tracks. One arm had a sturdy claw, the other a barrel that looked like a fla thrower.

The hallway continued past the door to the parking lot. If they had gotten there a little later, Daisuke would probably have gotten further down. They would have been able to just make a turn right and go to the parking lot before he even noticed them. Now, they’re stuck.

“What now? No other choice than to fight, right?” Sarasa pulled out her daggers. She was right, so Carol and Narumi drew their weapons too. Hecate handed Katja over to Ririna and unfolded her rifle.

“You idiots! This is our latest weapon! It’s made to deal with all sorts of monsters from the other world! No matter what weird powers you may have hidden, this machine is far surpasses you!”

“Oh yeah…? We’ll see about that.” Carol said.

The robot charged forward and punched the ground. Sarasa, Narumi, and Carol jumped out of the way. His claw got stuck, so they swung at the cylindrical body. Dagger, axe, sword… All of them bounced off.

“Out of the way!” Hecate fired, but even her shot rely bounced off.

“Ahahahahaha! I told you it’s not gonna work! You’d need a shell from a tank to even leave a dent!”

“A tank, huh…” That’s it? The red crown appeared over Carol’s head. “Buy

so ti. I think we can leave it with a few dents!”

Carol ran back over to Hecate and materialized a piece of anti-tank artillery.

“Wh- what? What are you doing…?” Daisuke asked.

“I said it, didn’t I? I’m making so dents!”

*Boom!*

A huge shell ripped through the air and squashed into the robot’s thick armor, forcing it inwards. Two shells, three shells. The robot couldn’t withstand it and staggered backwards.

“Yo- you?! How is that possible!? Grrrr! What are you doing, you piece of junk? Don’t just let them attack you! Attack them back!”

The robot aid his flathrower and spread fire everywhere.

“Duck!” Hecate said.

His arm was raised quite high so there was a gap between the flas and the floors that the girls used to escape. Carol let go of her artillery piece, and it fell into a puddle of boiling blood.

“Ahahahaha! It doesn’t matter if you duck! Now you can’t move! Crush them! Now!” Daisuke pointed forward, and the robot rushed toward Carol.

How can she stop him? Anything works. A wall, a barrier, anything. But no… It was too late to materialize anything in ti. “Uhhh…” Carol covered her hand as the robot’s giant claw closed in to crush her.

“No, you don’t!” With a wide swing, Iroha appeared in front of Carol and batted the robot’s hand away. “Fuck off!” Iroha said.

*Ping!*

His arm was forced back and he staggered. How could a small sword have so much power?

*Crash!*

But Iroha didn’t escape unscathed. The punch launched her back, and she crashed against a wall.

“I- Iroha?!” Carol said. She imdiately stood up and looked over with a smile. Iroha was a bit wobbly, but even after the impact she stood up with the help of Reia. Why were they together? It didn’t matter. Carol ran over to her and hugged her. She and almost everyone else.

“Waaahaaaa! Iroha! I missed you so much!” Narumi said.

“Wa- wait… one at a ti!” A hint of fear spread on Iroha’s face before she got crushed on all sides. “Ca- can’t breathe…!”

“She’s right, dammit!” Carol squeezed her harder. “Is it really you? How did you get here on your own? Where were you?! We were so worried, you idiot!”

“It’s… Huh… Well… It- it’s a long story… And there’s a scary robot looking at us, so maybe now’s not the ti.” Iroha wrapped her arms around Carol, Sarasa, Narumi, and Hecate, then let go, and they let her go too. Poor Ririna was left out holding Katja.

“Hmm? Katja?” Iroha asked. “Is she hurt? What happened to her?”

“Well, it’s a long story. And there’s a scary robot looking at us, so maybe now’s not the ti.” Carol shrugged.

“Haha… Fair enough…” Iroha stepped forward with her sword in hand. “So, are we fighting that thing? Can we win? I’m not exactly at full strength here.”

“It’s okay… You see that door over there.” Hecate pointed with her other hand on Iroha’s shoulder. “We just have to make it past that.”

“Really?” Iroha asked.

Reia nodded from behind. “That’s the parking lot. One of the ways out.”

“Tsk… How did you escape on your own…?” Daisuke asked. “Attack them, you piece of junk! Don’t let them escape!”

“The robot’s coming… What do we do?!” As long as it was just the claw, Iroha was confident she could stop it a few more tis, so she stepped forward.

“Actually, I have an idea.” Carol said. “It’s gonna take a lot out of , so I’ll need soone to carry

out…” Maybe a dumb idea… They would need so ti to discus- “Eh?! Iroha?! What are you?!” She grabbed onto Iroha’s shoulders after she swept her off her feet.

“Do it. I trust you.”

“Iroha…” Carol slowly extended her hand towards the robot, and a large cloud of red mist created a cube in front of them. The cube then took on the form of a runaway train and accelerated before crashing into the robot.

*Shatter!*

The train broke into a million pieces from the impact but pushed the robot well past the door they needed to get through.

“Now! Go!” Carol strained herself. The train barely held its shape for a second before bursting into rain of blood.

The robot tried to recover before the girls made it past him. He raised his fist and swung at the door, but it was too late.

“We’re out!”